This exhibition was curated by the exhibition
department of the Tate Gallery rather than the main gallery team who
had not yet, recognized video as a 'legitimate' medium. They used their
lecture theatre spaces -which although not ideal, served the purpose
and gave exposure to the public for what was - at the time- a very new
experience. Interestingly a PhD student was undertaking some research
on audience participation at the time and asked if he could incorporate
the Video Show in his project. His results showed that the average time
spent looking at a painting or sculpture was 3-4 seconds but with the
video show it was 3-4 minutes - unless the viewer was a practicing artist
- in which case it was 0-2
seconds or, in other words - video - no way!

My piece 8x8x8 was in many ways, pretty straightforward, using live
video camera feeds to confront the audience with their own real time
image - although it was a 3/4 view of the back and side of their head.
I had devised a video switcher ( the AVS) , which was built for me
by one of the engineers at the Royal College of Art (where I was, for
a short time, a student). This allowed programming of the output of
the switcher to the monitors. I programmed it to anticipate the reaction
of a person confronted by the view of the back and side of their head,
which I correctly anticipated would mean they would turn to se if they
could see their face, a sensor would pick up on this an d speed up
the process of switching so that they were frustrated. It was interaction
- of a particularly controlling kind!

Above is a photograph
of the Automatic Video
Switcher - developed by Howard Vie, whilst I was a student at
the Royal College of Art during 1975-6. It handled up to 8 video
cameras
and
outputs
and the switching was controlled by slide tape pulse technology.